I didnt know there was such a thing as a "horrible" pump but it wasnt uncommon for my lower back to feel so worked after lots of rack pulls/deadlifts that it was uncomfortable to do things like heavy one arm DB rows but if youre not training with a belt on DLs or rack pulls i would try that. I feel i still get a hell of a lower back workout but it is the difference between night and day as far as how my lower back holds up through the rest of my workout, especially since its always the first thing that gets worked.

You could try keeping one of those big exercise balls around, and between sets of deadlifts just lay on it. Put your hands over your head, and stretch your legs out, and just let the ball kinda hold up the curvature of your back. Keep the ball right at the top of your hips and just lay there for a minute. Works well for me.

Hyena wrote:You could try keeping one of those big exercise balls around, and between sets of deadlifts just lay on it. Put your hands over your head, and stretch your legs out, and just let the ball kinda hold up the curvature of your back. Keep the ball right at the top of your hips and just lay there for a minute. Works well for me.

That's actually not a bad idea. I get the best feeling ever though laying on the ham curl station and let the pad pull my legs down, it's pure ecstasy...haha

I feel dumb for asking this question but this thread seems appropriate. Someone had asked me this earlier today. He basically said he did the normal back exercises but never felt anything in his back so wanted to know what exercises to use. I told him he was doing it right and that is just not an area you usually feel a pump at. I said all those exercises involve arms too which is where you feel it first, maybe when you get really strong arms you will start feeling it more in your back. Is this correct at all?

On another thought when you get older the back is just one of those areas you get random pain (just really minor unless you did something wrong to cause it). For that reason you may not notice any soreness there from the gym as much.

dead hang stretches from a pullup station for a few seconds between sets of deads/ rack pulls etc and then again after finishing workouts will help. the excercise ball thing mentioned above sounds cool too.

sufiandy wrote:I feel dumb for asking this question but this thread seems appropriate. Someone had asked me this earlier today. He basically said he did the normal back exercises but never felt anything in his back so wanted to know what exercises to use. I told him he was doing it right and that is just not an area you usually feel a pump at. I said all those exercises involve arms too which is where you feel it first, maybe when you get really strong arms you will start feeling it more in your back. Is this correct at all?

On another thought when you get older the back is just one of those areas you get random pain (just really minor unless you did something wrong to cause it). For that reason you may not notice any soreness there from the gym as much.

i hope this doesnt come across too harsh, but seriously, why are you giving advice (to buddy you were talking about) when you know you are completely guessing? -dont do this

sufiandy wrote:I feel dumb for asking this question but this thread seems appropriate. Someone had asked me this earlier today. He basically said he did the normal back exercises but never felt anything in his back so wanted to know what exercises to use. I told him he was doing it right and that is just not an area you usually feel a pump at. I said all those exercises involve arms too which is where you feel it first, maybe when you get really strong arms you will start feeling it more in your back. Is this correct at all?

On another thought when you get older the back is just one of those areas you get random pain (just really minor unless you did something wrong to cause it). For that reason you may not notice any soreness there from the gym as much.

No. If you do the exercises properly then you should feel it in your back. It takes practice to figure out how-to accurately target your back. Yes, strong arms help, but your arms should NOT be fatiguing before your BACK when you're doing BACK exercises! If they are, then you're doing something wrong!

Decompress your back. Sometimes when this happens, i lay down on a bench with my feet up in the air to make the back temporarily flat, also taking stress off of the lower back. seems to work fine for me.

sufiandy wrote:I feel dumb for asking this question but this thread seems appropriate. Someone had asked me this earlier today. He basically said he did the normal back exercises but never felt anything in his back so wanted to know what exercises to use. I told him he was doing it right and that is just not an area you usually feel a pump at. I said all those exercises involve arms too which is where you feel it first, maybe when you get really strong arms you will start feeling it more in your back. Is this correct at all?

On another thought when you get older the back is just one of those areas you get random pain (just really minor unless you did something wrong to cause it). For that reason you may not notice any soreness there from the gym as much.

What? You should definately feel apump in your back when exercising the back. I feel like, inflated after a good back session.

Hyena wrote:You could try keeping one of those big exercise balls around, and between sets of deadlifts just lay on it. Put your hands over your head, and stretch your legs out, and just let the ball kinda hold up the curvature of your back. Keep the ball right at the top of your hips and just lay there for a minute. Works well for me.

Low back pump is something a lot of us have to deal with. When you are bigger and eating a ton it is worse. The good news is it just hurts...it doesn't signify anything really wrong with the area...just a lot of fluid trapped down there. Which obviously doesn't mean everyone should ignore lower back pain, but if you have low back pump and know what it is, it's ok to ignore it and keep training to the extent you can.

To those of you who don't know what low back pump is and don't get it, don't give advice. K thanks.

I actually kinda like it, maybe it is because I considered the lower back one of my weak points long ago and was pretty obsessed with strengthening it for a while. I have to admit though that when it's over a certain limit it can be incredibly uncomfortable. Hanging from a pull up bar and stretching seem to help though. Gonna have to try that exercise ball thing too.